This invention relates to a clip and molding assembly for a vehicle body and more particularly to a wheel flair molding assembly for a U-shaped wheel opening providing a ready molding body attachment which obviates gaps between the molding and the body outer panel.
The U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,514,003 issued Apr. 30, 1985 to R. R. Guy and 4,174,850 issued Nov. 20, 1979, to R. K., Hart are representative of prior art arrangements to provide wheel flair molding or trim strips for vehicle body wheel openings. The Guy patent discloses a resilient deformable plastic molding strip that is adhesively secured along an edge of a vehicle body panel. Resilient spring clips are also provided having a cross sectional configuration complementary to that of the molding strip are used with the adhesive layer at areas of high stress concentration to prevent failure of the adhesive bond.
The Hart patent discloses a flair clip apparatus in place of drilling holes through the flair molding and the fender and thereafter inserting bolt and nut combinations, rivets or screws through such holes. The Hart flair clip utilizes a flexible generally truncated triangle-shaped clip one leg of which is provided with a mounting bolt that upon tightening releasably clamps the flare molding to the peripheral portion of the fender.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,745 issued Nov. 4, 1986, to W. G. Jacobs discloses a vehicle body wheel opening structure. In FIG. 1 of the Jacobs patent a prior art structure is shown wherein a molding is positioned around a wheel opening, with the molding including a leg which abuts against a body panel terminal flange and is secured thereto by self-tapping screws.